Woke Up Married

14

Evicted from The Family Condo

"Good question, I have a plan, but I need your total commitment. We will use everything to take back what belongs to us?" Mrs Haward said and both James and Mirenda raised an eyebrow, staring at her.

"Let's go to my room," Mrs Haward said, knowing the old man was around and could drop in on them anytime.

Mrs Haward was very much aware of the old man's love for Jason and even though he appeared to be invisible in the house since the death of her husband, he would always want to get involved in anything that had to do with Jason.

Mirenda and James followed Mrs Haward into her room. The old man stepped out of his room a few minutes later and saw the trio going up the stairs. He ignored them and went onto the balcony instead.

"So, what is the plan?" James asked once they were seated inside Mrs Haward's bedroom.

"We will start by moving in to stay with Jason," said Mrs Haward, crossing her legs.

"Mum, what excuse do we have to move in with him, a visit?" Mirenda questioned.

"Yes, the rent of this house will expire very soon. We will use it as an excuse," replied Mrs Haward.

"Wait, but Dad gave the condo to me. I am to complete the purchase process," Mirenda pointed out.

"Yes, he left you the family debt and gave the treasure to Jason," replied Mrs Haward.

"What do you mean debt? I like the condo. Dad left enough money for the rent renewal and completion of the purchase process," Mirenda pointed out.

"Are you working? What are you going to do when the money runs out?" questioned Mrs Haward.

"But mum, that money is enough to keep this house for more than 10 years," Mirenda replied.

"Enough Mirenda. We are not renewing the rent or purchasing, and we are moving in with Jason. That is final no further discussion," yelled Mrs Haward, and Mirenda turned her back to her, folding her arms across her chest angrily in disapproval.

"Talking about the money for the house rental, which account is that in?" questioned James.

"No, that money stays where it is. James, we are taking back our treasure and not spending what we have," replied Mrs Haward.

"Okay, so when are we moving to Jason's?" asked James.

"Next week, but first we have to get rid of the old man. He is Jason's ally. We can't trust him," Mrs Haward said.

"So, how do we get rid of him?" asked James, as Mirenda looked on.

"I am thinking of sending him to an old people's home outside of town," Mrs Haward replied. "I will get you an address, so you send him there," she said to James, and he nodded, but Mirenda remained angry as she was about to lose her inheritance.

"Sure," replied James.

"And James, within the week I would like you to go to Jason's and keep me updated on everything happening there," Mrs Haward added.

"Sure, anything else?" James asked.

"No, that will be all for now," Mrs Haward replied.

"Okay, now that we are done here, can I go spend some time with my lady?" asked James, and his mother facepalmed. "I take that as a yes," he said and exited the room.

Mirenda also got up to leave when Mrs Haward grabbed her, pulling her to the seat next to her. Mirenda was still angry.

"Look, I know you love this condo. I promise you I will get it back for you. For now, I just need Jason to believe your father didn't leave you enough to take care of it yourself. He didn't leave me anything aside from entrusting my upkeep to Jason's," Mrs Haward explained. "If Jason gets to know the family condo is gone, he will take us in," she added.

"What if he decides to renew the rent for us?" asked Mirenda.

"Good question, that is why we are waiting to be evicted. That way, the agreement will change, making it more expensive. It will be best if he lets us stay with him rather than try to buy it back," Mrs Hawarad explained.

"So how will you get it back for me?" questioned Mirenda.

"The money Dad left you for the renewal is enough to get the house back. Make sure no matter what happens you don't transfer it to James," Mrs Haward warned.

Mirenda didn't have anything else to say. She didn't want to leave the condo, but she knew her mother would not agree to them keeping it. She nodded with her head lowered.

"Good girl," Mrs Haward said, as she hugged Mirenda.

The next day, as planned, James took the old man to some old people's homes outside town. The place looked abandoned. Two people came out of the building and received James. He frowned but still went ahead to leave the old man with them.

"Why have you brought me here James?" inquired the old man, but James ignored his questions.

The old man was forcibly grabbed and injected to sleep as James left. The people who had received the old man carried him into the building. From there, James left for Jason's apartment as decided.

When he arrived, Jason had already left for work. He entered the house and saw someone sitting on the balcony. He walked towards the place and from the glass door, he saw a long wavy black hair tied up into a pony revealing a beautiful neck. He entered the balcony and Julia turned to look at him with her beautiful blue eyes. James was dazed for a minute. He was with Jason the day Julia had come into the house. He was busy teasing Jason and hence, he didn't realize how gorgeous Julia was.

Julia had a cold expression and did not say anything to him, but James was lost in her beauty. James looked at Julia's flawless skin, her pink lips, long lashes, slim nose, and the shape of her face. He at that moment wanted to devour her.

"She is a to keep," James thought.

"Hey Julia, would you like......" came Tilly's voice from behind, which thrilled off as James, who snapped out of his daze, turned to look in the direction of the voice.

Tilly's heart did multiple backflips, looking at the handsome man before her.

"Well, hello," Tilly said with a smile. "I am Matilda, but everyone calls me Tilly," she said, offering her hand for a handshake.

James, who doesn't waste time when it comes to women, quickly accepted her handshake.

"Pleased to meet you. Call me James," James said, kissing the back of Tilly's hand.

"Are you here for Mr Haward?" Tilly asked, smiling.

At this moment, Julia had turned her gaze to look outside, ignoring the two of them. She was thinking of how to tell Jason, she wanted to go out and search for a job.

"Yes, he is my younger brother," James replied. "Is he around?" he inquired.

"No, please. He left for work early this morning," Tilly replied, playing with her hair.

"I can't believe my brother left such gorgeous angels all alone in this huge boring house," James said, and Tilly smiled some more, almost giggling.

"Anyway, I just came for a visit and will be around for a while," James said and winked at Tilly, and she blushed.

"How about your sister here? Does she talk?" James asked.

"She does, just a lot on her mind," Tilly replied as she wondered why Julia was suddenly quiet. "Plus she lost her mother not long ago," she whispered.

Even though she whispered, Julia heard her. She got up and headed inside. The wind blew on her flared skirt as she walked towards the door, making it dance around her beautiful legs and her hair bounced behind her. James's eyes were fixated on Julia as she walked away and hence, he did not hear Tilly calling until she tapped him.

"Yeah," James said, snapping out of his daze.

"She is taken," replied Tilly, even though she didn't know the relationship between Julia and Jason.

Tilly walked away too, leaving James alone on the balcony. She was a little angry that Julia captured James's attention, but that was no news to her, as Julia captured the attention of men anytime they were out together, and she always became invisible.

Julia, when she left the balcony, went straight to her room. She sat on the bed, hugging her mum's picture. She realized staying at home was not doing her any good. Now more than ever she wanted to work. She decided when Jason came back home, she would plead with him to allow her to do something that would take the sadness away.

James moved to the living room and, after requesting a bottle of beer, turned on the TV and placed his legs on the sofa while watching.

The elevator doorbell rang and Jason entered the living room accompanied by two of his guards. He saw James in the living room and walked towards him.

"Hello bro," Jason said, sitting down on the chair opposite him.

First, it was their mother, now it's his elder brother. He stared at him, wondering why he was there.

"Hello, finally you are home," replied James.

"Yeah, there was a lot to do in the office," replied Jason.

"Anyway, what brought you here, considering you never come here unless you need something," Jason said.

"Those are mere coincidences. Today, I am here to visit," replied James, his foot still on the sofa.

Jason looked at James's foot on the sofa and frowned but never commented on it.

"You are welcome then. So, you will be going back, or you have decided to stay for a while?" Jason asked, getting up to his feet.

"I will be around for a while," James said.

"Which girl are you hiding from?" Jason asked as he headed towards the staircase leading to the bedroom floor.

The guards had already returned to their post

"I am not hiding from any girl," replied James, and Jason chuckled as he climbed the staircase.

Upon reaching the floor, Jason looked down the hall towards his left. Looking at the door to Julia's bedroom. She has recovered well from the pain of losing her mother. He felt that if he wanted to find out how they woke up married, now was the time to do so. He turned and walked towards his bedroom, which was up a staircase.

After fleshing up, he went down and went to Julia's room and found her asleep hugging her mother's picture. He sat on the edge of the bed staring at her sleeping face which had stains of tears. She was crying again. He wondered if she had really recovered. He had avoided her in the past few days, so he was not sure when she had started crying about her mother again. He got up and was about to leave when Julia called out to him. Since she was brought to the house after her mother's murder, today is the second time Jason has heard Julia speak. He stopped and turned to face her.

"I want to work," Julia said, staring at him.

"Why?" Jason asked.

"Doing nothing makes me think about my mum a lot," Julia replied and lowered her head.

"Okay, let me look at a few things, so you start something next week," Jason suggested, and Julia nodded.

Jason left the room immediately. He decided that, with Julia's qualifications in architecture, she could work in their project department. After giving it some thought, he invited Julia over to his study and discussed it with her that same night and, for the first time, Julia smiled.

Meanwhile, James had sneaked up the stairs and eavesdropped on the conversation but decided to get some confirmation first before informing Mrs Haward.

The rest of the days passed as normal, but what nobody knew was James was feeding his mother with information on the day-to-day activities in Jason's apartment.

A day before Julia would start work officially at Jason's company, Mrs Haward and Mirenda arrived at the apartment with their luggage, including that of James.

"Mum, what happened?" asked Jason, who was about to leave the house for work.

"We got evicted from the family condo," replied Mrs Haward.